Another teen ‘raped’, hanged in UP

Less than a week after two cousins were found hanging from a tree in Badaun, a similar case was reported from Thakurdwara in Moradabad district of UP on Thursday. A 19-year-old girl, belonging to the Yadav community, was found hanging from a tree in Rajupur Milak village.

While the police suspect it to be a case of honour killing, the girl’s family alleged gangrape and murder by men from the Scheduled Caste Jatav community. The police have arrested two persons, Sunjay Gautam and Nikki. SSP Ashutosh Kumar said, “Based on the complaint of the victim’s brother, we registered a case of murder against two persons and arrested them. But we are also probing the honour killing angle.”

According to the police, the girl had returned to her house on Tuesday with her uncle and grandmother after attending her maternal grandmother’s funeral. Her parents, brother and two sisters had stayed back. On Thursday morning her brother, a CRPF clerk, returned home to find his sister missing. Her body was spotted hanging from a tree in a field by a local.

The police said that the girl was menstruating and had stains on her salwar, which made her family conclude that she had been raped. But the doctors who conducted the postmortem prima facie ruled out rape. “We have, however, sent vaginal swab for examination,” said a police officer. The postmortem also revealed that she was dragged, hanged from the tree and then beaten to death. There were scratch marks on her neck.

During investigation, her brother alleged that Sunjay and his friend Nikki used to stalk her. After he raised suspicion over the two men, the police arrested them and registered a case of murder.

The police claimed that the victim was friendly with Sunjay and was often spotted with him by locals. “After we questioned villagers, it was found that she was friendly with him, and her brother opposed this friendship. This pointed the needle of suspicion towards her brother. He will be questioned,” said a police officer.